Count the number of ways to traverse a Matrix

Given a two-dimensional matrix, in how way can someone traverse it from top-left to bottom-right?
Condition- At any particular cell the possible moves are either down or right, no other steps possible.

Stop when the end is reached.

Examples:

Input : 3 3
Output : 6

Input : 5 5
Output : 70

Recommended: Please try your approach on {IDE} first, before moving on to the solution.

If we look closely, we will find that the number of ways a cell can be reached is = Number of ways it can reach the cell above it + number of ways it can reach the cell which is left of it.
So, start filling the 2D array according to it and return the last cell after completely filling the array.

Below is the implementation of above approach:

C++

// C++ program using recursive solution to count 
// number of ways to reach mat[m-1][n-1] from 
// mat[0][0] in a matrix mat[][] 
#include <bits/stdc++.h> 
using namespace std; 
  
// Returns The number of way from top-left  
// to mat[m-1][n-1] 
int countPaths(int m, int n) 
{ 
    // Return 1 if it is the first row or  
    // first column 
    if (m == 1 || n == 1) 
        return 1; 
   
    // Recursively find the no of way to  
    // reach the last cell. 
    return countPaths(m - 1, n) +  
           countPaths(m, n - 1); 
} 
  
// Driver code 
int main() 
{ 
    int n = 5; 
    int m = 5;  
    cout << countPaths(n, m); 
    return 0; 
} 

Java

// Java program using recursive  
// solution to count number of  
// ways to reach mat[m-1][n-1] from 
// mat[0][0] in a matrix mat[][] 
import java.lang.*; 
import java.util.*; 
  
class GFG 
{ 
// Returns The number of way  
// from top-left to mat[m-1][n-1] 
public int countPaths(int m, int n) 
{ 
    // Return 1 if it is the first 
    // row or first column 
    if (m == 1 || n == 1) 
        return 1; 
  
    // Recursively find the no of  
    // way to reach the last cell. 
    return countPaths(m - 1, n) + 
           countPaths(m, n - 1); 
} 
  
// Driver Code 
public static void main(String args[]) 
{ 
    GFG g = new GFG(); 
  
    int n = 5, m = 5; 
    System.out.println(g.countPaths(n, m)); 
} 
} 
  
// This code is contributed  
// by Akanksha Rai(Abby_akku)  

Python3

# Python 3 program using recursive solution to count  
# number of ways to reach mat[m-1][n-1] from  
# mat[0][0] in a matrix mat[][] 
  
# Returns The number of way from top-left  
# to mat[m-1][n-1]  
def countPaths(m, n) : 
  
    # Return 1 if it is the first row or  
    # first column  
    if m == 1 or n == 1 : 
        return 1
  
    # Recursively find the no of way to  
    # reach the last cell.  
    return (countPaths(m - 1, n) + 
            countPaths(m, n - 1)) 
  
  
# Driver code      
if __name__ == "__main__" : 
  
    n = 5
    m = 5
    print(countPaths(n, m)) 
  
# This code is contributed by ANKITRAI1 

C#

// C# program using recursive  
// solution to count number of  
// ways to reach mat[m-1][n-1] from 
// mat[0][0] in a matrix mat[][] 
using System; 
  
class GFG 
{ 
// Returns The number of way  
// from top-left to mat[m-1][n-1] 
public int countPaths(int m, int n) 
{ 
    // Return 1 if it is the first 
    // row or first column 
    if (m == 1 || n == 1) 
        return 1; 
  
    // Recursively find the no of  
    // way to reach the last cell. 
    return countPaths(m - 1, n) + 
        countPaths(m, n - 1); 
} 
  
// Driver Code 
public static void Main() 
{ 
    GFG g = new GFG(); 
  
    int n = 5, m = 5; 
    Console.WriteLine(g.countPaths(n, m)); 
    Console.Read(); 
} 
} 
  
// This code is contributed  
// by SoumikMondal  

PHP

<?php 
// PHP program using recursive  
// solution to count number of  
// ways to reach mat[m-1][n-1] from  
// mat[0][0] in a matrix mat[][]  
  
// Returns The number of way  
// from top-left to mat[m-1][n-1]  
  
function countPaths($m, $n)  
{  
    // Return 1 if it is the  
    // first row or first column  
    if ($m == 1 || $n == 1)  
        return 1;  
  
    // Recursively find the no of  
    // way to reach the last cell.  
    return countPaths($m - 1, $n) +  
           countPaths($m, $n - 1);  
}  
  
// Driver code  
$n = 5;  
$m = 5;  
echo countPaths($n, $m);  
  
// This code is contributed by jit_t 
?> 

Output:

The above solution has exponential time complexity. It can be optimized using Dynamic Programming as there are overlapping subproblems (highlighted below in partial recursion tree for m=3, n=3)

            CP(3, 3)
          /        \
     CP(2, 3)     CP(3, 2)
     /    \        /     \
 CP(1,3) CP(2,2) CP(2,2) CP(3,1)

C++

// A simple recursive solution to count 
// number of ways to reach mat[m-1][n-1] from 
// mat[0][0] in a matrix mat[][] 
#include <bits/stdc++.h> 
using namespace std; 
  
// Returns The number of way from top-left  
// to mat[m-1][n-1] 
int countPaths(int m, int n) 
{ 
    int dp[m+1][n+1]; 
      
    for (int i=1; i<=m; i++) 
    { 
        for (int j=1; j<=n; j++) 
        { 
           if (i==1 || j == 1) 
              dp[i][j] = 1; 
            else
              dp[i][j] = dp[i-1][j] + dp[i][j-1];               
        } 
    } 
    
    return dp[m][n]; 
} 
  
// Driver code 
int main() 
{ 
    int n = 5; 
    int m = 5;  
    cout << countPaths(n, m); 
    return 0; 
} 

Java

// A simple recursive solution to count 
// number of ways to reach mat[m-1][n-1] from 
// mat[0][0] in a matrix mat[][] 
  
class GFG 
{ 
    // Returns The number of way from top-left  
    // to mat[m-1][n-1] 
    static int countPaths(int m, int n) 
    { 
        int [][]dp=new int[m+1][n+1]; 
          
        for (int i=1; i<=m; i++) 
        { 
            for (int j=1; j<=n; j++) 
            { 
            if (i==1 || j == 1) 
                dp[i][j] = 1; 
                else
                dp[i][j] = dp[i-1][j] + dp[i][j-1];              
            } 
        } 
      
        return dp[m][n]; 
    } 
      
    // Driver code 
    public static void main(String []args) 
    { 
        int n = 5; 
        int m = 5;  
        System.out.println(countPaths(n, m)); 
          
    } 
} 
  
// This code is contributed  
// by ihritik (Hritik Raj) 

Python 3

# A simple recursive solution to  
# count number of ways to reach  
# mat[m-1][n-1] from mat[0][0]  
# in a matrix mat[][] 
  
# Returns The number of way  
# from top-left to mat[m-1][n-1] 
def countPaths(m, n): 
  
    dp = [[0 for i in range(m + 1)]  
             for j in range(n + 1)] 
      
    for i in range(1, m + 1): 
        for j in range(1, n + 1): 
            if (i == 1 or j == 1): 
                dp[i][j] = 1
            else: 
                dp[i][j] = (dp[i - 1][j] + 
                            dp[i][j - 1])              
      
    return dp[m][n] 
  
# Driver code 
if __name__ =="__main__": 
      
    n = 5
    m = 5
    print(countPaths(n, m)) 
  
# This code is contributed  
# by ChitraNayal 

C#

// A simple recursive solution to count 
// number of ways to reach mat[m-1][n-1] from 
// mat[0][0] in a matrix mat[][] 
  
using System; 
class GFG 
{ 
    // Returns The number of way from top-left  
    // to mat[m-1][n-1] 
    static int countPaths(int m, int n) 
    { 
        int [,]dp=new int[m+1,n+1]; 
          
        for (int i=1; i<=m; i++) 
        { 
            for (int j=1; j<=n; j++) 
            { 
            if (i==1 || j == 1) 
                dp[i,j] = 1; 
                else
                dp[i,j] = dp[i-1,j] + dp[i,j-1];              
            } 
        } 
      
        return dp[m,n]; 
    } 
      
    // Driver code 
    public static void Main() 
    { 
        int n = 5; 
        int m = 5;  
        Console.WriteLine(countPaths(n, m)); 
          
    } 
} 
  
// This code is contributed  
// by ihritik (Hritik Raj) 

PHP

<?php 
// A simple recursive solution to count 
// number of ways to reach mat[m-1][n-1]  
// from mat[0][0] in a matrix mat[][] 
  
// Returns The number of way from top-left  
// to mat[m-1][n-1] 
function countPaths($m, $n) 
{ 
    $dp; 
      
    for ($i = 1; $i <= $m; $i++) 
    { 
        for ($j = 1; $j <= $n; $j++) 
        { 
            if ($i == 1 || $j == 1) 
                $dp[$i][$j] = 1; 
            else
                $dp[$i][$j] = $dp[$i - 1][$j] +  
                              $dp[$i][$j - 1];              
        } 
    } 
  
    return $dp[$m][$n]; 
} 
  
// Driver code 
$n = 5; 
$m = 5;  
echo countPaths($n, $m); 
  
// This code is contributed by Rajput-Ji 
?> 

Output:

Time Complexity : O(m * n)

My Personal Notes

Recommended: Please try your approach on {IDE} first, before moving on to the solution.

C++

Java

Python3

C#

PHP

C++

Java

Python 3

C#

PHP

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